r 


AN 

ADDRESS 


DELIVERED AT 


THE DEDICATION 


OF THE 

HINSDALE ACADEMY, 

JANUARY 11, 1849. 



By william Br SPRAGUE, D. D. 

MINM8TER OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION, ALBANY. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CORPORATION. 

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ALBANY : 

C. VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER. 

1849 . 


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ADDRESS. 


It is fitting that the completion of any import- 
ant enterprize should be noticed and considered, 
especially by those who have had the chief agency 
in conducting it, and who are most interested in 
its results. It is due to a gracious Providence 
that we pause to refresh our minds with a sense 
of his goodness, in the contemplation of his coun- 
sel and his care. It is due to ourselves, to society, 
to future generations, that we become thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit of the enterprize, compre- 
hending it in its various relations, and directing 
it to its legitimate ends. The spirit of these 
suggestions is, if I mistake not, the spirit of this 
occasion. You have established an institution in 
aid and in honour of the cause of learning; and it 
is but a reasonable service that, now at the com- 
mencement of its operations, you should devote 
an hour to grateful recollection of the success 
which has attended your efforts, and to some 
general estimate of the duties which devolve 


4 


upon you. I have been asked to give some direc- 
tion to your thoughts on this interesting occasion. 
Had I supposed that you were looking for an 
elaborate discourse on education or any kindred 
subject, I should have felt constrained, owing to 
the peculiar circumstances in which your request 
found me, to have declined it altogether ; but as 
1 took for granted that a somewhat informal of- 
fering to your common sense and your good feel- 
ings was all that would be required of me, I have 
most cheerfully consented to take part with you 
in the gratulatory exercises of this hour. The 
few remarks to which I ask your attention, will 
have it for their object to deepen your sense of the 
importance of your undertaking, and to quicken 
your zeal and direct your efforts in carrying for- 
ward the noble work which you have so honour- 
ably commenced. 

The establishment of an institution like this, 
apart from any peculiar circumstances, would be 
worthy to be noted as an event having an auspi- 
cious bearing on the interests of the race. For it 
is designed to aid in the culture of the human 
faculties; to form the youthful mind to noble 
attainments and lofty aspirations ; to qualify for 
extensive usefulness in the various departments 
of life ; and though its influence may act most 
intensely within a comparatively small circle, yet 


5 


so numerous and complicated are the relations 
that exist in society, that there is a sense in which 
it may be said that its field is the world. Yes, 
every institution designed and adapted to waken 
man’s powers into more vigorous exercise and 
give them a right direction, should be regarded 
as a matter of common interest; as part of the 
great system of instrumentality by which the ul- 
timate elevation and triumph of the human mind 
are to be achieved. 

But, if I mistake not, a little reflection will 
show us that there are circumstances connected 
with your enterprize, which give to it a peculiar 
interest, and justify you in connecting with this 
occasion the most cheering anticipations. You 
will allow me briefly to advert to these circum- 
stances. 

The first is, that this institution contemplates alike i 
the education of both sexes. 

The old doctrine on the subject of female edu- 
cation was substantially this, — that it is safe, 
for the most part, to leave the whole matter to 
take care of itself. And hence, while there were 
colleges and academies scattered over the land, 
at which parents might educate their sons, an 
institution at which their daughters might enjoy 
the like advantages, was scarcely to be found ; 
and the few that did exist were looked upon 


6 


having had their origin in extravagance, and as 
rather conflicting with the designs of Providence 
by giving to the female mind an unnatural direc- 
tion. But, happily, the present generation are 
permitted to look upon the doctrine which led to 
such unpropitious results, as an exploded doc- 
trine; and if there are those who still hold it, 
they do so at the expense of being regarded, and 
justly, as the enemies of civilization, of social 
happiness, of the best interests of man. The 
world in its advancing wisdom has discovered 
that the intellectual faculties of the sexes are 
substantially alike ; that they are equally suscep- 
tible of cultivation ; and that this very suscepti- 
bility implies an obligation to bring within the 
reach of both similar advantages. For, can you 
tell, — can any one tell, why that immortal prin- 
ciple, capable of spanning the heavens and flying 
off into eternity, should be left to slumber, merely 
because it has its dwelling-place in the bosom of 
a woman ? And then the relations which woman 
sustains, both within and beyond the domestic 
circle, — what an argument do they supply for 
giving her a substantial and thorough education ! 
Is she qualified to be the wife of an intelligent 
man, who is at home only amidst her culinary 
utensils, or even by the side of her piano ? Is she 
qualified to discharge the duties of a mother, — 


7 


to open the windows of the infant mind and let 
in the first beams of light, and then to nurse the 
various faculties in their successive stages of 
development, — whose own mind has scarcely 
emerged from the darkness of nature, — whose 
education has been either altogether neglected, 
or has been only that which might become a doll 
or a plaything ? Is she qualified to move about in 
circles of dignity and usefulness, to co-operate 
efficiently with the wise and good in aid of the 
improvement of the race, whose unfurnished 
mind and vulgar habits proclaim that she is her- 
self a fit subject for some plastic hand to work 
upon ? The very constitution of your academy, 
providing as it does for the education of both 
sexes, shows that you have not only theoretically 
but practically reached the true doctrine on this 
subject. You are not willing that your daughters 
any more than your sons should be left under the 
blighting curse of ignorance. You have made 
provision here, that the education of the one sex 
should go hand in hand with the education of the 
other. Here will be an annual contribution to 
your domestic and social happiness. Young wo- 
men as well as young men will be continually 
going forth from this institution, qualified by the 
diligent improvement of the advantages which it 
has furnished them, to diffuse a charm over soci- 


8 

ety and to sustain with efficiency and honour 
their various relations. 

I am aware that the commingling of the sexes 
in the same institution may be regarded by some 
as an unpropitious circumstance. The reply to 
this, in the present case, doubtless would be, that 
in a place whose population is no larger than 
yours, it might be inconvenient to sustain two 
separate institutions. But allow me to say that 
this circumstance is by no means to be regarded 
as necessarily an evil. Only let there be a correct 
sentiment prevailing throughout the institution, 
and what might at first seem fraught with incon- 
venience and danger, becomes really a source of 
important advantage. Let the respectful distance 
between the sexes which nature and propriety 
dictate, be observed ; and let their intercourse be 
characterized by mutual courtesy and dignity, 
and neither will be the worse, — both will be the 
better, for the relations into which they are brought J 
The softening influence of female manners on 
our sex is proverbial; and the high, considerate 
and honourable bearing of a well-disposed and in- 
telligent young man, will tell, with no less power, 
on the intellectual and moral developments of the 
young ladies with whom he associates. 

The next consideration which I beg leave to 
mention, as illustrating the importance of your 


9 


enterprize, is the place where this institution is 
situated. I am not aware that any place could 
have been selected more favourable to its accom- 
plishing a glorious result. 

First of all, then, let me say, it is in this great 
and free country^ — a country which it is hardly 
presumptuous to say, holds in its hands the des- 
tinies of the world. Why, my friends, we have 
scarcely begun to find out the extent of our terri- 
tory, — scarcely begun even to dream of the im- 
mense population that is hereafter to occupy it, 
or of the mighty influence which that population 
is destined to wield. It is a subject, I know, upon 
which it is difficult to speak ; for in speaking of 
it, there is danger lest we indulge, or seem to in- 
dulge, an unbecoming self-complacency, instead 
of being deeply impressed, as we should be, with 
a sense of obligation and responsibility. Never- 
theless, we may not shut our eyes against the 
light, because it is capable of being perverted to 
evil ; and we are bound to contemplate our con- 
dition and prospects with the eye of sober calcu- 
lation. I say, then, if any thing can he rendered 
certain by mathematical demonstration, then it is 
certain that, if the ordinary course of events in 
respect to this country be unobstructed, we are 
destined, ere long, by our surpassing vastness as 
a people, to become a wonder to ourselves as well 
2 


10 


as to the world ; — destined, in the providence of 
God, to perform a work that shall tell mightily 
upon the physical, the intellectual, the moral 
condition of every kindred and nation and 
tongue and people under heaven. And then the 
air of this country is the air of freedom. Oppres- 
sion, — that monster from the pit, has indeed a 
footing here : would to Heaven he had not ; for 
he makes us stammer when we talk of our free 
institutions ; and whenever we see the finger of 
scorn pointed at us from abroad, we always know 
what it means. But we do not expect that his 
reign will be perpetual ; and there are those who 
believe that this generation will not have passed 
away, before his days will be numbered. But 
notwithstanding all the embarrassment incident 
to this sad feature of our national character, it is 
still true that we are the freest people on whom 
the sun shines: indeed, we have as much free- 
dom as is consistent with stability, with efficien- 
cy, with safety. Here the mind may not only 
think its own thoughts, but proclaim them with- 
out fear. Here there are no walls built up high 
as heaven, which the imprisoned intellect cannot 
scale ; no great gulfs fixed between the different 
classes which even a master mind may sigh in 
vain to pass. But every thing great and good is 
open to the pursuit of all. No one is forbidden 


11 


to run for the highest prize. There is nothing 
incongruous in the supposition that he who in 
his youth, slept on a rough board and was nursed 
on the coarsest fare, should, before he dies, occu- 
py a place to which every other man in the nation 
would have to look up. 

Do you not perceive, my friends, the mighty 
advantage which your institution derives from 
being situated in such a country as this, — so free, 
so vast, so powerful ; — powerful already, but des- 
tined, in the common course of events, to become 
incomparably more so in the progress of years and 
centuries. Suppose, what indeed would be an 
impossibility, — but suppose that this institution 
had been established in Italy, or Portugal, or 
Spain; and that this very day, it were going into 
operation there, amidst all those restraints on 
public opinion, and that deep intellectual servi- 
tude, which have come down through so many 
generations, — what think you would be its pros- 
pects of usefulness ? Why, the machinery would 
stand still the moment after it was put in opera- 
tion; or if it continued to move at all, it would 
be only tardily and sluggishly ; and the reason 
would be, that there would be every thing in the 
habits of the people and the genius of the govern- 
ment to retard and embarrass and defeat. Or, 
if any good were to be accomplished by such an 


12 


enterprize, it would be on an exceedingly limited 
scale, and in reference to but few individuals; 
for the great mass could not be brought within 
the reach of any such influence, nor would they 
be scarcely more susceptible of it than is the iron 
or the flint of being penetrated by the gentle 
dews. But this academy rises up in a country, 
where there is nothing to obstruct its influence, 
but every thing to help it ; where the successive 
generations of its pupils can turn their acquisi- 
tions to the best account in sustaining the great 
cause of human improvement and human happi- 
ness; where every well-directed blow which is 
struck in aid of the cause of truth and intelli- 
gence, or in opposition to the powers of evil, is 
felt, I had almost said, to the very center of the 
universe, — is like the lightning’s flash, darting 
from one end of the heavens even unto the other. 
Say not that I am magnifying beyond bounds the 
importance of your institution, — for that it is 
only a unit, and has but just commenced its ex- 
istence; and that, however benignly it may ope- 
rate on the interests of your immediate neigh- 
bourhood, it were unreasonable to suppose that 
it should reach much beyond. Herein, be assu- 
red, you mistake ; for such is the nature of intel- 
lectual and moral influence under a free govern- 
ment, that you cannot restrict the influence of 


13 


this institution within narrow limits, if you would. 
It must work for the country and the world; and 
so it will work, unless you abandon your enter- 
prize and shut up your building, or else pervert 
to purposes of evil the provision that has here 
been made for good 

Let me say, next, that this academy is a New- 
England institution; and New-England, — I may 
surely say it here among yourselves, — is the gar- 
den of the land, — in some respects the garden 
of the world. Rely on it, those of us who first 
breathed New-England air, and who became fa- 
miliarized in our youth to New-England usages, 
but have since been providentially thrown into 
other parts of our favoured country, always love 
to remember that our fathers’ sepulchres are here; 
and hither we are sure to come to find the objects 
of our most grateful and hallowed recollection. 
Here we find intelligence among the masses ; and 
comparatively few who are born here, are without 
at least the elementary branches of education. 
Here the spirit of the pilgrims, — in some respects 
degenerated I must acknowledge, but still the 
same spirit, — lingers and throbs in the bosom of 
their descendants; and as long as their graves 
remain, that spirit will not cease to act in heroic 
impulses and noble deeds. It is a Massachusetts 
institution also; and who needs be told that 


14 


among all the sisters, there is none greater than 
she ? Religious liberty in its infancy was nurtured 
from her bosom ; and she furnished also the cra- 
dle in which civil liberty was rocked : and she 
numbers among her sons a host of intellectual 
and moral lights, to which kings and queens 
might well do homage. And may I not add, this 
academy is in the heart of old Berkshire ; whose 
majestic mountains and beautiful valleys and 
rugged fields, may be regarded as an index to 
the bold and earnest character of her sons, to the 
graceful and lovely character of her daughters. 
I ask now, is not a plant of intelligence and vir- 
tue, rooted in such a soil as this, likely to flourish ? 
Fanned by the breezes of freedom, guarded and 
nurtured by an enlightened public opinion, with 
the spirits of departed sages lending their influ- 
ence to its growth and productiveness, may we 
not reasonably expect that it will reach a majes- 
tic height, and spread abroad its branches for the 
refreshment and healing even of the world ? 

It is worthy of notice also, that your institution 
is in a quiet country village ; away from the din, the 
turmoil, the temptations, incident to a populous 
city. No doubt the city has its own peculiar 
advantages, and those whose lot is cast in cities 
ought thankfully and diligently to improve them. 
But neither does it admit of question that a stu- 


15 


dent’s life in the country is in some respects far 
safer and happier than in a large town. The ad- 
vantages for preserving the health in the former 
case, are much greater than in the latter : the air 
that is breathed is purer ; the opportunities for 
exercise are better ; and dangerous diseases are 
less frequently hovering around, and more easily 
resisted or repelled. And then, the quiet of the 
country, especially its still mornings and eve- 
nings, — there is nothing more favourable to the 
vigorous and undisturbed application of the facul- 
ties ; while the bright scenes of nature which are 
constantly exhibited, — the broad expanse above 
and around garnished with so much glory, the 
genial influence of spring spreading verdure 
through the fields, the golden harvests and the 
variegated hues of autumn, — all, all are fitted to 
improve the moral sentiments and quicken the 
moral sensibility. And, last of all, there are fewer 
temptations to all the grosser forms of transgres- 
sion in the country than in the city : in the for- 
mer case the movements of a young man may 
be traced with comparative ease, whereas in the 
latter it is not diflSicult for him to hide himself in 
the crowd ; and many a youth has actually, in 
this way, become accomplished in vice, — a very 
victim to profligacy, while his parents or guar- 
dians have scarcely begun to suspect any aberra- 


16 


tion. Hence we find that it is quite common for 
parents in the city who can afford it, to send their 
children, especially their sons who are the more 
exposed, into the country for at least a part of 
their education ; and in doing so, they act from a 
conviction not merely that a change of residence 
and of association will be useful to them, hut that 
they will be thrown into a more healthful moral 
atmosphere, and will be more likely to contract 
virtuous and exemplary habits. You have a right 
to expect that many not only from the surround- 
ing country, but ere long from larger towns also, 
will come to avail themselves of the advantages 
of your institution, and thus that while you are 
here sustaining yourselves in dignity and quie- 
tude, you will be sending up a purifying influence 
into the heart of more than one crowded city. 

May I not mention also, as another circum- 
stance of favourable bearing in respect to your 
institution, that it is planted in the immediate 
neighbourhood of a manufacturing population, 
and that its influence will be likely to be felt in 
elevating the intellectual and moral condition of 
that important portion of the community. It 
would be no wonder if some of them should not 
be contented to spend the whole year within 
the factory walls, presiding over the mechanism 
which gives us the clothing that we wear, but 


i1 


should by and by redeem a few months at least 
for the improvement of the mind; — if those whom 
you saw yesterday in the workshop, should he in 
the academy to-morrow, engaged in an honour- 
able course of intellectual culture. Or, even if no 
such case should occur, — if every man and every 
woman should keep steadily at their work, with- 
out being moved to any special effort for the ex^ 
altation of the nobler nature, still it is impossible 
but that they should share in the general good 
influence which we may expect will embosom 
this whole community ; and each successive ge- 
neration that shall be employed there will, it may 
be hoped, be the more intelligent and the more 
moral, from being thrown within the atmosphere 
of this institution which you dedicate to the 
cause of learning and virtue to-day. 

I must not omit to say, that there is that in the 
character of the times on which we are fallen, that 
gives great additional interest to your enterprize. 
Witness, for instance, the wonderfully accelerated 
progress of events in the history of man; how 
Divine Providence seems to be travelling in the 
greatness of his strength for re-constructing the 
fabric of society and producing a new order of 
things among the nations. Time has been when 
the world, in respect to every thing that pertained 
to individual or social interests, to civilization or 
Z 


18 


enjoyment, seemed to stand still : each age that 
passed just reproduced itself in the age that suc- 
ceeded ; and the man who had been dead for cen- 
turies, if he had come back to the world, would 
have found little, with the exception of a change 
in the earth’s inhabitants, to indicate that he had 
been absent for more than a night. The human 
faculties seemed to have come to a dead pause ; 
and each generation bequeathed what it had in- 
herited, and nothing more. But how changed the 
state of things now ! The mind of the world is 
up and doing. It has cast away the bands of an 
ignoble sloth, and put on the armour of light and 
action. It is going forward with a constantly ac- 
celerated motion. It is working out results that 
are astonishing even to itself And when the 
Christian, with the Bible open before him, pre- 
dicts that universal reign of knowledge and wis- 
dom and virtue that is to mark the millennial 
age, the philosopher, reasoning from the common 
law of progress, can find nothing to say against 
it. I am not familiar with your manufacturing 
operations ; but I doubt not that if I were to walk 
through any of these spacious establishments that 
are in sight, with the humblest of your operatives 
for my guide, he could point me at every step to 
labour-saving processes, which the ingenuity of 
man in latter years has discovered, and which 


19 


have marked an epoch in the history of the art. 
Less than half a century ago, the wizard power 
of steam had scarcely begun to be known; and 
for ships to sail without wind, or for a huge vehi- 
cle to roll through the country without any other 
agency than should be indicated by a volume of 
smoke, would have been a problem, at which the 
most absorbing credulity would have stood aghast. 
Not many years have elapsed since your own hills 
were regarded by the traveller as any thing else 
than a bright spot in his journey ; but what care 
we for your hills now, when the rail-road has 
converted them into a plain? But the latest and 
most marvellous triumph of the age, is the putting 
in requisition of the winged lightning in aid of 
the whole business of life ; the using of one of 
God’s most terrible agents as a common messen- 
ger. Upon this last discovery especially, the 
world paused for a while in deep wonder; but 
already it has become incorporated with the es- 
tablished order of things, and we send our com- 
munications to each other through the heavens 
as freely as we send them by the mail. And 
while Science is thus busy and thus successful, 
Christianity is walking arm and arm with her 
through the earth. She is doing her work of reno- 
vation with greatly increased power. She is 
spreading herself as a broad mantle of light over 


20 


the nations; so that when the infidel attempts to 
laugh at the promises she has made, the way to 
seal his lips is to point to the triumphs which she 
has achieved. And we are to hear in mind that 
the thing that is, shall he ; that the energies of 
the mind shall he awakened more and more; that 
the depths of nature shall continue to he searched 
hy the exploring lamp of science ; and that yet 
more profound secrets of which the human mind 
has not even dreamed, shall he evolved; and 
above all, that Christianity, — child of the skies, 
shall operate with increased energy till she has 
circled the world with her influence. * 

Now, I ask, is it not a great thing that your 
institution should have come into existence at a 
period that gives forth such a profusion of favour- 
ing influences ? No douht it may he regarded in 
one sense as the offspring of these influences ; for 
such an institution as this, — so liberal in its pro- 
visions and so elevated in its aims, would scarcely 
be started or conceived in a dark age. But how 
mightily will its operations and its results he 
modified hy the aspects of the times ! It becomes 
a part of the intellectual and moral machinery of 
the day; and the good influence which it is des- 
tined to exert will he absorbed into the great sys- 
tem of influence hy which Providence is working 
with such mighty power for the world’s regene- 


21 


ration. Ye are fellow-workers with those ^reat 
spirits with whom Nature herself holds the closest 
fellowship, revealing to them her hitherto undis- 
covered powers. Ye are fellow-workers with 
those men of moral might, — those heroes for the 
honour of the cross, who are giving their life to 
the extension of the cause of truth and virtue. 
Ye are in communion with the enlightened, the 
active, the philanthropic spirit of the age ; and 
however unimportant your achievements may he 
in your own estimation, yet as component parts 
of this vast system, and as quickened in their in- 
fluence and directed to their results by this all- 
pervading energy, they rise to a significance 
and dignity which it is not easy adequately to 
estimate. 

And, if I mistake not, there are other signs of 
progress among the nations, less grateful indeed, 
but not less unquestionable, than those to which 
I have adverted. The last year has been a hard 
year for thrones and crowns. In several countries 
there have occurred bloody struggles tending to 
revolution and reform. The people have become 
so far enlightened in respect to their rights, and 
so deeply incensed under the yoke that has been 
galling them for ages, that they have gathered 
courage to substitute rebellion for silence or sup- 
plication, and to talk to kings in a way that has 


22 

made them feel that they are not the monopolists 
of human majesty. Even in those countries 
where the visible tendencies to revolt have been 
the least, it is believed that the elements have 
still been working together for a tempest; and 
where silence has seemed to reign, some have 
apprehended that they have heard the deep rum- 
bling of a volcano preparatory to the belching 
forth of a torrent of fire. Even the Pope, himself 
a Reformer, and the most liberal representative of 
the whole succession, is now in exile ; and it is 
easier to believe that his glory is departed, than 
to predict what will hereafter be the measure of 
his degradation. We, of course, would not sym- 
pathise with the spirit of evil in any form ; not 
more in the form of unreasonable revolt than of 
unreasonable misrule ; and we would ask the Ru- 
ler of the nations, in reverent submission to his 
righteous will, to save the earth from another 
deluge of blood. Nevertheless, we cannot fail to 
see in the present condition of the nations, the 
workings of a spirit of reform : it is as clear as 
the light that universal freedom is now struggling 
into existence, and that no tyrant will much 
longer be able to cling to his scepter. Marvel not 
if we should yet have other kings among us than 
we have had already ; — not to rule over us, but 
to be ruled by us and with us ; and I would al- 


23 


most dare to predict that before some present shall 
have tasted death, the last chapter in the history 
of tyranny may be written. 

In view of this singular, this unprecedented 
state of things, how important becomes every 
accession to the intellectual and moral influence 
of the age; how important the kindling up of 
every new light for enlightening the world ; may 
I not say, what fresh interest accrues to the occa- 
sion which you are assembled to celebrate. Be- 
cause you cannot trace the influence which you 
are destined to exert upon other nations, do not 
therefore doubt its reality : the drop from the 
heavens is in no wise annihilated because it loses 
itself in the ocean, and you cannot distinguish it 
in the mass of waters; the fragrance of the flower 
is not lost because it is absorbed by the surround- 
ing atmosphere and you cannot mark its invisible 
progress; neither will that culture of the facul- 
ties which we may here look for be lost upon the 
world, because it may seem to be merged in the 
common improvement. Be it so that the influ- 
ence of your effort is to be realized first upon 
your own immediate population ; but then it will 
gradually diffuse itself over your county and your 
state, and thus will work itself into the great 
body politic, rendering its pulsations more health- 
ful and vigorous ; and as the United States are 


24 


the great example which the nations now have 
in their eye, while they are casting off the old 
and rotten garments of hereditary oppression, be 
assured that whatever you do for your neighbour- 
hood, you do for the nations ; for your influence 
commingles efficiently with that mighty ocean of 
influence which is to cleanse and to renew the 
face of the whole earth. 

I have dwelt so long upon the circumstances 
from which your enterprize gathers its peculiar 
interest, that I have but little time left for any 
suggestions in aid of carrying it out to its legiti- 
mate results. I must not forget to remind you, 
however, that what you have done, though itself 
a noble and honourable effort, must be but the 
beginning of a series of efforts, if you would ac- 
complish what you desire. It is the ordinance of 
Heaven that no human work should ultimately 
succeed, but through the influence of persevering 
care and labour. And herein God exhibits him- 
self as a prototype to his creatures ; for when his 
wisdom had planned and his power had built this 
great and goodly world, instead of retiring from 
it in indifference or inactivity, resigning it to the 
blind operation of the laws he had established, 
he took it under his own especial guardianship, 
and has ever made it the object of his unceasing 
direction and supervision. And if the Almighty 


25 


and All-wise has hound himself to this mode of 
procedure, — if He who works all things after the 
counsel of his own will, is pleased to effect his 
purposes, not by the putting forth of one mighty 
effort, but by a course of gradual and silent opera- 
tion, then surely it were vain for man to expect 
any enterprize of his to live and flourish in per- 
petuity, unless it concentrate upon it an ever- 
watchful and active regard. I say, then, you who 
have founded this seminary of learning are only 
at the threshold of your work. In building this 
commodious edifice, and throwing it open for the 
public accommodation, and providing yourselves 
with tried and competent teachers, you have in- 
deed made a good beginning; but if you should 
withdraw your hand now, on the ground that 
what has been so well begun, may be safely left 
to work its own way onward to a vigorous matu- 
rity, rely on it you would not have to wait long 
ere the bright promise of this hour would go into 
dire and total eclipse. You must guard the inte- 
rests of this academy, somewhat as you would 
the interests of your own house. If mistakes 
should occur in its administration, you must see 
that they are corrected. If additional means 
should be needed to sustain its operations, you 
must see that they are provided. If the pulse of 
the surrounding community in respect to its wel- 
4 


26 


fare should begin to flag, you must do what you 
can to quicken it. You must become auxiliaries 
to the teachers, as there may be occasion, in car- 
rying out their purposes of good ; and the pupils, 
whether they are from abroad or from the midst 
of you, must be permitted to feel that you have 
an eye to their personal interests, while you con- 
sult the general welfare of the institution. In a 
word, every individual among you ought to take 
an interest in this enterprize, and to be able to 
reflect, as brighter and yet brighter days dawn 
upon it, — “I have lent to it some humble influ- 
ence ; because I have contributed to it of my 
substance, or counsels or prayers, I have some 
small deposit here that shall yield something 
of good to those who shall live after I am in the 
dust.” 

In regard to the system of instruction that is to 
be adopted here, it would ill become me, even if 
the time would permit, to offer any suggestions 
in detail; and yet I may be allowed to urge upon 
your consideration a single thought which must 
identify itself with the economy of every institu- 
tion in which the true end of education is an- 
swered; — I mean the importance of an harmo- 
nious intellectual and moral development, — of 
giving the mind free use of those great and im- 
mortal powers with which the Creator has en- 


27 


dowed it. Let it be remembered that the acqui- 
sition of knowledge is really but a subordinate 
end of education : the more important end is the 
actual training of the mind, so that it shall at once 
know how and be disposed to employ its own en- 
ergies to the best advantage. Not but that the 
knowledge you gather here is of immense import- 
ance ; but the system of study and instruction 
should be such that in gaining the greatest amount 
of knowledge, you should also attain the highest 
capacity for vigorous and useful thought. Above 
all, the utmost care should be taken that the in- 
tellectual and the moral are not divorced from 
each other ; that in striving to give to a youth an 
angePs intellect, you do not leave him with the 
heart of a fiend. There are institutions in our 
country from which Christianity is deliberately 
and formally excluded. Not so, I am persuaded, 
with yours ; for you surely would not have invi- 
ted her ministers to stand where she herself might 
not have leave to approach. I trust she will be 
recognized as the presiding genius of the place. 
She may not, indeed, come with the shibboleth 
of any one sect upon her lips ; but coming in the 
holy attire of grace and charity, I am sure you 
will welcome and adore her. 

If I were to speak of the government of this in- 
stitution, I should say, let it unite mildness and 


28 


courtesy with dignity and efficiency. Let it be 
so simple in its principle that the merest child 
can understand it, and yet so comprehensive as 
to include every legitimate requirement and en- 
forcement. Let there he no cumbrous, useless 
rules to be violated with impunity, and to impair 
the sense of obligation in respect to those which 
are essential to be obeyed. Above all, let the 
pupils be made to feel that the government of the 
school is, in a most important sense, in their 
hands ; in other words, let every worthy principle 
of their nature be appealed to in aid of their 
self-government, — of their scrupulously avoiding 
every form of transgression, of their diligently 
discharging every duty, from those high conside- 
rations which ought to control them as rational 
and immortal beings. That school will always be 
the best regulated, in the government of which 
the pupils, not the teachers, have the larger share. 
And then, by this very process of self-government, 
they will be acquiring a character which will form 
the best prognostic of a life of honourable useful- 
ness. Happy is that teacher who can feel that 
his school is under such control ! Happy are 
those pupils who can feel that they always do as 
they please, because they are always pleased to 
do right ! 

My friends, I congratulate you from the heart 


29 


upon the truly praiseworthy object to which you 
have so vigorously and so successfully addressed 
yourselves. I congratulate you upon the comple- 
tion of this monument of your public spirit, — 
upon the exhibition of this honourable testimony 
of your regard to the interests of future gene- 
rations. Let God be praised that his provi- 
dence has watched over your enterprize, and 
brought it to so propitious a result. Let those 
philanthropic individuals be specially honoured, 
to whose counsels and charities and active efforts 
the institution chiefly owes its existence. Let 
this whole community have their due share of 
praise in consideration of any countenance they 
may have given, of any service they may have 
rendered, to an object of such common interest 
and such extensive utility. And now, let the 
house that you have built, the institution which 
you have established, be sacred to the cause of 
learning and virtue. May it mark an epoch in 
your history as a community. May its influence 
reach to every circle of society and every depart- 
ment of life. May it move forward with majestic 
and rapid progress, like the almost resistless loco- 
motive that daily works its way through your 
village. And when, of the thousand strangers 
that every week brings to take a transient glance 
of this beautiful landscape, some shall mark fresh 


30 


evidences of increasing prosperity and shall in- 
quire the cause, let them he pointed to this good- 
ly edifice and told that work is done here that 
casts the products of your factories all into the 
shade ; that a fountain of intelligence and wis- 
dom is open here, whose streams circulate as 
living waters throughout this entire population. 
And when other generations shall have succeed- 
ed to your places, may this institution still remain 
to speak to them of the public spirit and philan- 
thropy of their fathers, and to encourage them to 
run with still greater zeal the race of knowledge 
and virtue ! 








LIBRARY OF OONOPF'qq 











